Simple GIfts

'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free,

'Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,

And when we find ourselves in the place just right,

'Twill be in the valley of love and delight.

When true simplicity is gain'd,

To bow and to bend we shan't be asham'd,

To turn, turn will be our delight,

Till by turning, turning we come round right.

I wonder if Mrs. Rojano, my elementary school music teacher, would be proud that I still remember this. How many of us sang that song as kids? Maybe not a lot, but in the midwest, we know those Shaker songs a little better because, well, we had Shakers in our part of the country.

I read a couple of email devotionals, and yesterday I got one about how "every knee shall bow". Now, I'll admit that I haven't taken much *cough* time for my spiritual life in the last few months. I seem to always be too focused on pregnancy to work on my own spiritual growth, and I like to think that He works on me in different ways when I'm nourishing and growing a babe in there. Now that Look Alike is here, I need to get back to it. However, I still read the devotionals as a tiny way to learn God's heart.

As someone who has been called a Berean, I struggle with the difference between KNOWING and KNOWING ABOUT. I can read God's word until the proverbial cows come home, but unless I spend time with Him, I'm no better than Satan, who knows all about Him too. Time away with the Lord, that's what changes hearts. I've seen it, I've done it, it has changed me. And yet now I hide.

But it's funny how God pursues us, so deliriously in love with His creation, even the cracked, earth worn and weary creatures like me. He shows me over and over and over again that I am His and He desires me and our time together. And I miss the invitation more often than I accept it. Those are sweet moments, those stolen times with Him. It's like a first kiss all over again.

Yesterday's Upwords by Max Lucado had to do with how the lost in hell blashpheme all the more because there's no longing for God in a place He does not reside. Interesting, eh? I'd never thought about it. But this is what struck me: "Even the longing for God is a gift from God...".

He wants to be with me so much that he makes my heart ache for Him. It never ceases to amaze me how this amazing God who formed the Earth with only His words is so utterly vulnerable when it comes to togetherness. It's like He's saying, "I want to be with you, here, now. Do you want to be with me?" It strikes me as a "check yes or no" note, sent by a blushing boy to his crush. And now that I think about it, what could be better than to be crushed on by the great I Am?